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Sunday, July 8, 2007

Get PMP Certified in 35 days from Scratch

I had suggested this to one of my friend. It works!! He passed with 69% marks.

Total effort in Plan: 35 days

Make sure you can spare at least 3+ hours a day for next 24 daysAnd 8+ hours for last 11 days before you attempt the exam.

Register with PMI:

Go to http://www.pmi.org/

Select "Global Membership & Communities-->Membership-->Individual --> Online", Membership fee is $119. As part of membership, you will receive PMBOK Guide from PMIAlso get a copy of Rita Mulcahy’s PMP exam prep book.

Apply for the certification examSelect "Professional Development and Careers-->Certification Program-->Online Application"

You need to do this now as you may get a slot only after 30-40 days depending on the availability. Exam fee is $405 for members. Your preferred exam date should be 35+ days from now.

Register for a PMP Exam Prep 4 day course on 25th day from now.

Start Preparation:

There are 12 chapters in PMBOKRead one chapter two times in a day for next 12 daysFirst read ITTO (Inputs - Tools & Techniques - Outputs), next read and understand each item in detail.ITTOs are very important, Logically understand and Memorize all ITTOs, you will get many questions on that.

Now start reading Rita Mulcahy’s PMP exam prep book in parallel with PMBOKThis book has all the needed basic concepts in detail with scenarios, exercises and practice questions. Since you are now familiar with the PMBOK, you will start understanding the concepts in depth. This may take another 12 days.

This is not sufficient to attempt the exam. Remember that you need to follow PMBOK as bible. No mugging or guess work will help. All you need is through understanding of concepts and good buffered Short Term memory.

To boost your short term memory, I would suggest you to take a PMP Fast Track Exam preparation course. This will help you grasp all the chapters in 4 days and also you will get the much needed 35 PDUs certificate which is an entry criteria for the exam.

Now you will have increased confidence level to attempt the exam.Take off from your work and other commitments for next one week and start preparing for the exam. By this time you would have realized your gaps and week areas. Start paying more attention to difficult areas. Revise, Revise and Revise. Attempt practice questions on difficult areas like Project Integration Mgmt, Time Management, and Cost Management etc.

Keep cool mind on exam day, relax, don’t stress yourself as you will need 100% of you mind to work at its optimum speed continuously for 4 hours.

If you plan on a long term career as a project manager, then yes, even with your level of experience, I would suggest getting your PMP. You can prepare yourself for the exam in one of the PMP trainingproviders like http://www.pmstudy.com/. You can do minimal prep-work to get 40 PMI® Contact Hours and apply to PMI for PMP Exam before the class begins.

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